MARRIAGE 



for entry at notice, and on* shilling (or certificate. 

 I'anio* desiring to lie married without delay inn-t 

 obtain a license dispensing with the ordinary form-. 

 Tbe Arobbiabop of Canterbury may grant a special 

 i.i* vWar general ) for 



(which U iaraad . 



marriage at any time or place. License for a 

 marriage In church is obtained fmm a surrogate 

 on an affidavit a* to residence, alwenee of lawful 

 iiii|*-dinicnt, and (if either party l a minor) con- 

 sent of parents or guardians. A license may also 

 be obtained on giving one dav's notice to the 

 superintendent-registrar, and making a declaration 

 M to residence, Ac, The feet payable for li.-cu-,-- 

 are considerably higher than those paid for Iwiims 

 anil for the onlfnary certificate. It U to be observed 

 that the registrar cannot give a license for marriage 

 in church. Mix ordinary certificate is usually 

 in lieu of banns'; but a clergyman may 

 on banns nr episcopal license when the 

 marriage is in church. 



In the actual celebration of marriage the law 

 require* that the ceremony take place l>etween 

 8 A.M. and 3 P.M. (12 A.M. until 1886), that the 

 parties declare that they know of no impediment 

 tn their marriage, that formal words of consent 

 be used in the presence of witnesses, anil Hint 

 the marriage be duly registered. If the marriage 

 is in church, the prayer-book service is used, and 

 the minister enters the marriage in the register. 

 If it IK in a Nonconformist chapel or other regis- 

 tered building, a registrar must lie in attendance. 

 Persons who wish to be married according to a 

 aecular form may be married at a register ottii-e. in 

 presence, of a superintendent-registrar, and of a 

 registrar and two other witnesses. Persons so 

 married may afterwards go through a religious 

 ceremony, but such ceremony is not a marriage, 

 in the legal sense of the word, and therefore must 

 not be registered. In IS68 a Koyal Coimni i.m 

 reported on the marriage laws of the I'tiited 

 Kingdom, pointing out the grave inconvenience* 

 resulting from the maintenance of different laws 

 in England, Scotland, mid Ireland, and from the 

 uncertainty of the Kn-li-li law. The excessive 

 formality of the statute law is in some degree 

 neutralised by the rule that a marriage i- not 

 voided unless for some fraud or irregularity of 

 which both parties are cognisant. Thus, a man 

 who is married in a false name is duly married, 

 unless the wife is a party to the deception ; anil it 

 ha* been held that a marriage in church, without 

 banns or license, is valid, if tli<> u.- i- under the 

 belief that the husband has complied with the 

 necessary legal forms. For further particulars in 

 regard to forma, see Haramick's Marrmt>r I.,,,,- .,/ 

 I : and for the legal effects of marriage, see 

 the article Hi BVM> \M> WIFE. 



A marriage celebrated in church by a person pro- 

 fssslng to be in holy orders, and not known by Uitli 

 parties to be an impostor, is valid. If both parties 

 acquiesce in the celebration of marriage by a pre- 

 tended clergyman, the marriage is void. Marriage 

 by proxy i. not known U> English law, and if it 

 were thought desirable tn permit such a marriage 

 in the ease of a sovereign or other perton of exalted 

 rank, a special act of parliament would proUbly be 

 passed for the purpose. When one party U a Pro- 

 lest ant and the other a Unman Catholic, it was 

 formerly pot unusual tn arrange for two religion* 

 ceremonies; but the Koman Catholic clergy now 

 decline tn officiate in such cases, unless the parties 



Knisethsrt tberenhixll be no Protestant ceremony. 

 Anglican clergy being no longer the wile 

 authoritative registrar., the repetition of the 

 Catholic marriage In an Kuh!ished church is not 

 now tolerated, for papal dispensations granted to 

 Catholic*, see Dura** ATI 

 In regard to marriages celebrated abroad, and 



marriages in England where the particx, or one of 

 i .iy In- of I'orvign nationality, it in impoitant 

 to observe tli.it the law of thr panic*' domicile 

 governs tin 1 es-cntials of the marriage (capacity of 

 the parties to contract marriage, &c.), ami tliat the 

 law of the place of celebration governs the [onus 

 with which the marriage must be solemnised, except 

 in the case of a marriage celebrated in an aiuliossa- 

 dor's house, or other place enjoying the privilege of 

 ex-territnrinlity. It is not always easy to say what 

 are the essentials of a marriage, and what rules 

 and ceremonies are to be considered merely formal. 

 French law, for example, requires persons about to 

 marry to obtain, or at least to apply for, the con- 

 sent of their parents. A Frenchman is married in 

 England without asking his parents' consent. It 

 may be said that he box only omitted a formality 

 not required by English law ; but the French courts 

 hold in such cases that an essential requisite of valid 

 marriage is wanting. It is obviously most incon- 

 venient that persons deemed to be married in one 

 country should be considered unmarried in another ; 

 the 'conflict of laws' as to marriage and divorce is 

 the cause of much hardship and injustice. 



Srnt/iiml. The law of Scotland regards marriage 

 as a contract constituted by the consent of the 

 parties alone. In its effects it differs from other 

 contracts in respect that it confers upon the parties 

 a certain distinct status, and inasmuch as its 

 duration and legal consequences cannot be changed 

 at the will of the parties. This is what U referred 

 to when marriage is said to l>e an institute or some- 

 thing more than a contract. As the free consent 

 of the parties is necessary, marriage is impossible 

 when those element- are present which the law 

 regards as involving incajtacity to give consent. 

 Thus idi.it- and mad persons cannot marry, and a 

 marriage to which the assent of one or 'other of 

 tlie parties bos been gained by fraud, force, or fear, 

 or error as to some essential matter, Mill be void. 

 Intoxication, if the person is so drunk as not to 

 know what is being done, also invalidates a mar- 

 riage. Pupil- i.e. females under twelve and males 

 under fourteen cannot marry ; but, if the parties 

 are of marriageable age, the consent of their parents 

 or guardians is not nece ary. Besides these in- 

 capacities, specially affecting the nature of the 

 consent given, and attaching to marriage in com- 

 mon with all other contracts, there are others 

 ]>eculiar to marriage only. Thus, impotency renders 

 a marriage void, and a previous marriage,' while it 

 sulmisls, prevents either of tl:e parties from lawfully 

 contracting another ; marriage between adulterers 

 is foi bidden by an old statute (regarding which, 

 however, doubt* have lieen expressed as to whether 

 its force IK not gone by desuetude ), and relationship 

 within certain degrees prevents the relations from 

 marrying. The forbidden degrees, as in England, 

 are drawn from the Jewish law as set forth in 

 the Book of Leviticus (see above). A further pic- 

 liminary requisite to a valid marriage i that one 

 or other of the parties shall have resided in Scot- 

 land for a term immediately preceding the mar- 

 riage. This term varies according to the form which 

 the marriage takes. An irregular marriage is not 

 good unless one of the parties either had his or her 

 usual residence in Scotland, or lived there for 

 twenty-one days before the marriage. In the case 

 of a marriage after proclamation of Banns (q.v.) 

 the session-clerk cannot proclaim banns until the 

 Kirtii- have resided in his parish for six weeks. 

 Where publication of notice by the registrar takes 

 the place of banns parties must reside for fifteen 

 days in the district liefore intimating to the regis- 

 trar their intention to marry, and seven further 

 days must elapse before the marriage takes place. 



As regards the manner of contracting marriage 

 the law of Scotland is peculiar among those of 



